The sale and purchase of wild animals with mature artificial breeding technology is generally not treated as a crime

The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly issued the Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Destruction of Wildlife Resources  (Fa Shi [2022] No. 12, hereinafter referred to as Interpretation). The Interpretation was deliberated and adopted at the 1856th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on December 13, 2021 and at the 89th meeting of the 13th Procuratorial Committee of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on February 9, 2022. Effective from the 9th.

The Interpretation adheres to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and thoroughly implements Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization and Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law. Make efforts to punish crimes of destroying wildlife resources in accordance with the law, and provide a strong judicial guarantee for promoting the construction of ecological civilization. The Interpretation mainly clarifies the following issues:

The first is to adjust the conviction and sentencing standards for crimes of destroying wildlife resources. The crime of destroying wildlife resources involves the crime of smuggling precious animals and precious animal products, the crime of illegal fishing of aquatic products, the crime of endangering precious and endangered wild animals, the crime of illegal hunting, the crime of illegally hunting, purchasing, transporting, and selling terrestrial wild animals. In the past, judicial interpretations stipulated the standards for conviction and sentencing of relevant crimes according to the number of animals involved, and practice reflects that there are problems that cannot fully adapt to the complex circumstances of the case. In view of this, the Interpretation is no longer a quantitative theory for the crime of destroying wildlife resources, but instead uses value as the basic standard of conviction and sentencing, so as to better reflect the requirements of the principle of adapting the crime to responsibility and punishment.

The second is to punish crimes that destroy wildlife resources throughout the chain. At present, the crime of destroying wildlife resources forms an interest chain of fishing/hunting-purchasing-trafficking. In judicial practice, not only the illegal fishing and hunting at the front end, but also the subsequent sale of stolen goods should be punished. Based on this, the Interpretation makes it clear that those who purchase or sell illegally caught aquatic products or illegally hunted wild animals shall be convicted and punished for the crime of covering up or concealing the proceeds of crime. The Interpretation also clarifies the conviction and sentencing standards for the crime of illegally hunting, purchasing, transporting, and selling terrestrial wildlife for the purpose of consumption, which is newly added in Amendment (XI) to the Criminal Law.

The third is to clarify the handling rules for cases of artificial breeding of wild animals. At present, with the development of economy and society and the improvement of scientific research level, many breakthroughs have been made in the artificial breeding of wild animals, and some rare and endangered wild animals have formed stable artificial breeding populations that are completely independent of wild resources. In criminal investigation, it is not appropriate to treat cases involving artificial breeding of wild animals and cases involving natural growth and breeding of wild animals in wild environments. In view of this, the Interpretation stipulates that if the animal involved in the case is artificially bred and has one of the following circumstances, the case in question shall generally not be treated as a crime; if criminal responsibility needs to be investigated, it shall be dealt with leniently in accordance with the law: (1) Included in artificial breeding (2) The artificial breeding technology is mature and has reached a scale, and it is traded and transported as pets.

It is reported that in the next step, the two highs will guide the local people's courts and people's procuratorates at all levels to strictly implement the criminal law and judicial interpretations, give full play to judicial functions, punish crimes that destroy wildlife resources in accordance with the law, and effectively protect the ecological environment , maintain biodiversity and ecological balance.

The Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China

The Supreme People's Procuratorate of the People's Republic of China

Announcement

The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate Interpretation of Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Destruction of Wildlife Resources was approved by the 1856th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on December 13, 2021, and by the 13th Procuratorial Committee of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on February 9, 2022. Adopted at the 89th meeting, it is hereby promulgated and shall come into force on April 9, 2022.

Supreme People's Court Supreme People's Procuratorate

April 6, 2022